Policy
Welcome to the official policy page for the Harry Potter Books Wiki. When you edit or add information, pictures or videos, please keep in mind how things work here, for when you edit, you will be agreeing to the following rules which help to achieve the goal of keeping the wiki professional and collaborative. Content The information may only be taken from the books and any other writing by J.K. Rowling that pertain to her original work (see the canon section on this page to find out what they are), and not the films or any other connected media. Any images need to be from the books, Rowling or Pottermore (perhaps chapter art or Jim Kay's) - they need to be official. J.K. Rowling's written word will take precedence above anything else. The information needs to be factual and from Rowling i.e. canon. There will be no place for fan-fiction here and any information or pictures from fan-fiction will be immediately removed from the wiki. There will be no place for social networking here, though you are welcome to chat on your own talk page or create your own profile (character for example) on your own account page. However your edits on your own page should not be your primary contribution to the wiki, meaning you will need to help out in other ways. It will never be okay to delete or reword articles completely when it was okay the way it was. The wiki is a collaboration and everyone's good work should find a place on the wiki. It will only be acceptable when the article was in bad shape and needed a lot of improvement. When you think the name of an article needs to be changed, please write why on the talk page and receive feedback, and then an admin will move the page to another name. If you think a page needs to be deleted, then do the same on the talk page for that article and an admin will decide whether the feedback supports deletion. Real World Policy There will be no mention of the real world or real world people and there will be no pages for them, unless they are J.K. Rowling, Pottermore, the book publisher, the books themselves or the creator of any official art made for the books or Pottermore. There shouldn't be any mention of real-world people, media, events or places unless they are mentioned in the books. An exception may be made if any were mentioned in the books, though their page will only include information about them from the books. It helps to create a place where the world of the books feels real and less cluttered with real world information. Original Writing Policy Everything you write needs to be written in your own words. Please never copy and paste information from anywhere else, any efforts will be deleted or reworded. If you see any information that you know to be copied word to word from another place, please help - be creative - we hope to be a creative and helpful guide in our own way. Forum Pages The wiki is happy to let you create a forum page to talk about the books and perhaps even ask for help in understanding certain things from the books, but you need to name the page with the word Forum: at the start of it (e.g. Forum: Was it right for Ron to leave Harry in Deathly Hallows?). Please keep your talk proper and appropriate and that you stay kind to other editors, particularly when they have their own opinion and you do not agree. I hope people of every age will love the website and share their thoughts. If there are any problems, please let the admin know. Talk Pages The talk pages are for admin work only. They are not a space to share your thoughts and opinions on the topic, but for the running of the page - i.e. the information and how it is written, what could be improved etc. You are welcome to talk about your own opinion on your own talk page, on your own account. However your edits on your own page will not be your primary contribution to the wiki and you need to help out in other ways. Information on the talk page will not be deleted unless it is inappropriate and the admin of the wiki will decide when that will be necessary. If you think anything needs to be deleted, please let the admin know. Structure Information from each chapter needs to be placed under the sub-heading of the chapter name (i.e. the main events from ''The Boy Who Lived'' will be under the sub-heading of the same name). The sub-heading should be under a summary main heading (e.g. on Harry's page, the Boy Who Lived sub-heading would be under Life at Privet Drive). However when the chapter mentions an event that happened in the past, they do not have to appear under the chapter name and may appear under it's own main heading (for example, Early Life). Every piece of writing in the article will be written like the events actually happened (i.e. "Lily Potter was an English Pure-Blood Witch" and not "Lily Potter is a character in the Harry Potter books"). Every character page will have the Appearance and Character sections and every page will conclude with the References section. References The wiki takes great pride in knowing that every piece of information added is true. For that, references are key in letting people know where you found the information. You have to include a reference to everything information you add. Bear in mind that even when you add a reference to your work, that reference will be checked and if it was not found, your work will be deleted. Character and Appearance The information needs to be referenced from the books and other canon (see the canon section on this page to find out what they are) and not your own bias thoughts and opinions on what they were like and what you want them to look like. If there is nothing in canon to reference your edit with, then it cannot belong on the wiki. And remember, any portrayal of the character in any films and plays will have no bearing on the character or appearance and will not be included anywhere on the wiki. Templates Only an admin may create or change any template. You may change the writing added in an infobox on an article, but you cannot change the layout and you will have to bring your thoughts to the attention of an admin. For help in finding out what templates there are and what each template is for, look here. Blocking An admin will block anyone damaging pages from editing on the wiki. The admin will have the final say on the length of time needed when they have weighed up the edit and longevity of any repeated edit. An immediate block will be granted to any inappropriate edit and one warning granted to any other edit. Any editor may be blocked from the range of three days, two weeks, a month or indefinitely. You may continue to write on your own talk page when blocked, though it should only be to bring your apology to the admin of the wiki and explain why you think the block should be ended. The admin will then make the choice of whether to accept your say and grant a second chance. Canon Policy The following books, writings and drawings are considered canon, and therefore acceptable information to be placed on the wiki. Every book and piece of writing are known to b written by Rowling, and every piece of art work officially created for the books. Books *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix *Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows *The Tales of Beedle the Bard *The Tales of Beedle the Bard (real world) *Quidditch Through the Ages *Quidditch Through the Ages (real world) *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (textbook) *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (real world) *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (real world) *Pottermore Presents Writings *New "Writing by J.K. Rowling" on Pottermore *Information originally written on J.K. Rowling's old website (now archived) ** James Potter and Sirius Black's Short Story Drawings *J.K. Rowling's sketches *Art work created by the following illustrators for published editions of the Harry Potter books ** Chapter art from the original Harry Potter books ** Jim Kay ** Olivia Lomenech Gill ** Cliff Wright ** Mary GrandPré Image Policy